Saturday 12 April 2008

Tao Te Ching of Lao-Tzu Chapter 25


Below is the chapter from two excellent sources along with the original Chinese text. The first source is from a translation by D.T. Suzuki & Paul Carus in 1913 followed by a translation by Stephen Mitchell in 1988.

Chapter 25

1. There is a Being wondrous and complete. Before heaven and earth, it was. How calm it is! How spiritual!

2. Alone it standeth, and it changeth not; around it moveth, and it suffereth not; yet therefore can it be the world's mother.

3. Its name I know not, but its nature I call Reason.

4. Constrained to give a name, I call it the great. The great I call the departing, and the departing I call the beyond. The beyond I call home.

5. The saying goes: "Reason is great, heaven is great, earth is great, and royalty also is great.

6. Man's standard is the earth. The earth's standard is heaven. Heaven's standard is Reason. Reason's standard is intrinsic.


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There was something formless and perfect
before the universe was born.
It is serene. Empty.
Solitary. Unchanging.
Infinite. Eternally present.
It is the mother of the universe.
For lack of a better name,
I call it the Tao.

It flows through all things,
inside and outside, and returns
to the origin of all things.

The Tao is great.
The universe is great.
Earth is great.
Man is great.
These are the four great powers.

Man follows the earth.
Earth follows the universe.
The universe follows the Tao.
The Tao follows only itself.


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